FINISH LINE: The Failed Four

You know it’s a tough year for North Carolina and Connecticut when they’re No. 4 seeds.

But it’s a disaster when those seeds are in the NIT.

That’s where the Tar Heels and Huskies find themselves, but heck, that’s better than other perennials UCLA and Arizona, who didn’t even make that field.

In that group are the defending national champion (North Carolina), a Final Four team from last year (Connecticut), a Final Four team from 2006 to 2008 (UCLA) and the program that owned the longest streak of consecutive NCAA Tournaments until this year (Arizona).

It won’t seem the same without them.

So what happened to this Failed Four?

Things got so bad for North Carolina (16-16) Roy Williams compared his team’s season to the catastrophe in Haiti, which made things even worse.

The sad part for Arizona (16-15)? Not being able to take advantage of a very weak Pac-10.

Connecticut (17-15) suffered through a seven-game leave of absence by coach Jim Calhoun.

Early losses to Portland and Cal State-Fullerton were the uh-oh moments that portended a miserable season for UCLA (14-18) and coach Ben Howland (left).

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